


Almost a Fairytale

by otpapprovedbythegods



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Enchanted Forest, Alternate Universe - No Curse, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Princess Emma Swan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-10 01:16:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7824475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otpapprovedbythegods/pseuds/otpapprovedbythegods
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their story started just like any other fairytale… well, almost, if only he hadn’t refused to kiss her when they first met or if she hadn’t threatened him on their second meeting. But these are small details nobody pays attention to, right? The important thing is, like any good fairytale, they knew they were going to marry and live happily ever after from moment they first looked in to each other eyes… well at least she did, he took a lot more convincing to get there but, again, details.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First I wanted to say that this is my first CS FF and the first time I'm writing in years and also English is not my first language and I don't have a beta so be nice with me. I'm sorry for the mistakes.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Their story started just like any other fairytale… well, almost, if only he hadn’t refused to kiss her when they first met or if she hadn’t threatened him on their second meeting. But these are small details nobody pays attention to, right? The important thing is, like any good fairytale, they knew they were going to marry and live happily ever after from moment they first looked in to each other eyes… well at least _she_ did, _he_ took a lot more convincing to get there but, again, details. Let’s start from the beginnig… 

Once upon a time there was a beautiful little princess who liked to play in the forest behind her parents’ cottage and do all sort of mischievous things that a proper princess should not be doing as her mama would always say when she was scolding her. Not that it prevented her from doing it again. Truth was, princess Emma had the whole household, specially her papa, wrapped around her little fingers almost from the second she was born, which prevented her from getting into to much trouble being such an adventurous little girl.

Emma and her parents lived a simple life in the country side. Every day she would have classes with her tutors in the morning (when she didn’t manage to escape before her mama found her, that is), in the afternoons she would learn to ride a horse and swordfight with her papa or play with her friends August and Baelfire and at night she would sit with her parents and listen to stories of brave princes and beautiful princess falling in love and fighting dragons and sleeping curses. Emma always enjoyed those stories although she would say that when it was her time to be the princess in the story she’d be the one fighting the dragon her prince could fall under a sleeping curse if he wanted to. Her parents would laugh at that and say they pitied the poor prince that would marry her. But Emma took the subject very seriously, she had a very clear idea of how her future husband had to be and wouldn’t accept anything less.

“I’m serious papa” she insisted when her papa put her to sleep. “My prince has to be brave and tall and handsome just like you. And he has to like to swordfight and play pirates, but he has to let me be the captain, not like August who say that girls can’t be pirate captain. And he has to play with my dolls too, when I want to. Oh! And he has to bathe!”

“Well, that’s quite a list my little duckling. But I think is safe to assume that he will bathe.”

“Bae and August doesn’t bathe.” she’d insist. Her papa would give up, knowing how stubborn his daughter was. Emma had yet another condition to be met by her future prince. There first meeting had to be just like her parents. She’d always liked to hear how her parents had met in the middle of a horse chase and had long decided that that was the only way to meet your true love.

It was with that thought that in a day that started like any other, Emma ended up convinced that she had found her prince. Emma had been playing by herself that day since August was busy helping his papa and Bae was having one of those days when he didn’t want to get dirt playing in the mud. Emma and the boys had found an abandoned house that people said belonged to an old witch, she wanted to go back there and see if the witch was still there after all, whats a little bit of mud when you can see a witch in person, after listening to so many tales with witches Emma wanted to see how they where really like, so she decided to go alone. Halfway through she heard noise of horses and carriages approaching on the road. Before she had time to think about what could be, a horse came straight in her direction, given Emma only time to jump out of the way and fall on the floor in the process.

“Killian!” a man shouted. He came riding with a few soldiers after the horse that had almost run her over. Emma could see now that the horse was been ridden by a boy who didn’t look much older than her. “If you don’t know how to control your horse then is better if you ride in the carriage with the women.”

“Is not my fault, papa!” the boy, Killian whined. “That girl was standing in the middle of the road!”

“Are you hurt girl?” the man asked, dismounting his horse.

“No, I’m fine.” Emma said, feeling a bit dizzy from almost getting killed minutes before.

“If that’s the case I thin…” he stopped talking and looked at her more closely. “My, my… you are the spitting image of your mother aren’t you princess?”  Emma was starting to remember all the warnings her parents had given about strangers and thought about trying to run while he was distracted looking back at his son. “Killian, came over here and apologize to our little cousin.”

The man’s words caught Emma’s attention and she looked back from him to his son with more curiosity and in that moment something odd happened, while the boy moved to join her and his father, he was suddenly illuminated by a ray of sunshine and Emma thought of all the fairytales she had heard, of her parents love story and how it had started exactly like this.

“Come Killian, apologize to your cousin.” his papa insisted when he got close but didn’t say anything.

“I apologize, my lady.” Killian spoke through clenched teeth.

“It’s ok.” she answered. He seem to be trying to stay as far from her as possible without disobeying his papa,but when he spoke he looked her in the eye and was looking back at his deep blue eyes that she thought: _yes, this was meant to be her prince charming. Well, he wasn’t very charming but she’d fix that later._ “How can you be my cousins if I never met you before?”

“Well dear, last time I saw you’re still a baby. Let me introduce myself, I’m Brennan and this young man here is my son Killian.”

“I’m princess Emma” she sad trying her best to make the courtesy her mother had taught.

“Pleased to meet you, Your Grace.” Brennan took her hand and kissed it than motioned for Killian to do the same.

“Do I really have to kiss her, papa?” Killian asked takin her hand reluctantly. Emma knew she was a little dirt from playing in the forest but he was been ridiculous. If he was really going to be her prince he’d have to get use to it.

“Don’t be stupid son. Take the opportunity while you can, very soon you’ll be wanting to do so with no such luck.” Killian made a face at his father’s words but obeyed.

“Nice to meet you princess.” he sad kissing her hand as quickly as possible, his lips barely touching her skin.

“Nice to meet you too Killian” Emma stood on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. Killian took a step back looking disgusted and took a handkerchief to clean his face. She was starting to feel offended, future prince or not she’d give him a piece of her mind if he kept acting that way.

Luckily her parents show up in that moment, having heard the noise of their arrival and after all initials pleasantries Emma was send to clean up because, according to her mama, she looked like a savage. It wasn’t until after supper when she had a chance to talk Killian again. She was going to her room when she heard him mumbling to himself in the corridor and thought she’d see if he needed help or wanted to play a little before bedtime, after all that’s what future wives are for, right? But before she could say anything he started mocking her.

“Oh, look the savage princess! Are you going to grab me again? because I left all my handkerchief in my room”

“I didn’t _grab_ you and if you keep being so rude to me when we marry I’ll not let...”

“WHEN WE WHAT?” he asked astonished.

“When we marry” Emma answered calmly although she was getting more and more upset with him.

“I’m not marrying you! Who said I was gonna marry you?” Killian sounded horrified with the idea what made Emma lose completely her calm.

“I’m saying we’ll!”

“We won’t!”

“We will!”

“Won’t!”

“Will!” Emma shouted feeling angry tears starting to fall down her face. “And when we marry I won’t let you have dessert because you’re mean! And you won’t get any bedtime stories! And I’ll put a frog in your bed when you’re asleep! And... and...” she sobbed trying to think of other threats.

“What’s happening here?” Her mama asked, appearing in the top of the stairs. Emma run to hug her.

“He said he won’t marry me mama!” She sobbed/complained

“She is crazy!” Killian said at the same time then run to his room.

“Come little duckling, let’s go to your room and prepare to bed while you tell me what was this all about.”

When Emma finished explaining to her mama all the reasons why Killian had to marry her she was already in bed waiting for her goodnight kiss.

“That’s not how it work baby.”

“But mama...”

“And besides there is a long time until you grow up, you might not even like him when you do.”

“I don’t like him now, but he has to marry me mama! He has to!” She insisted. Her mother knowing she’d get nowhere when Emma was being stubborn like that changed tactic.

“Ok, ok duckling. Let’s talk about this again in a few years and see how it goes. Now is time to go to sleep”

Emma wasn’t convinced but did what her mama said and closed her eyes, falling into a quick and peaceful sleep.


	2. A Princess and a Poison Box

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This Fic is completely AU. No curse. Magic does exist but differently from the show. A lot of things in this fic will be inspired on "The Mists of Avalon": the religions, Avalon and Arthur's legends. But is not necessary to have read/watched it to understand this story, I'll try to explain things as I go.  
> Special thanks to lenfaz for looking this over.

 

 

* * *

Emma’s small cottage had never seen as much agitation as in the last three days since Lord Hopper (Archie, as he kept insisting she call him) accompanied by a few others lords and soldiers had arrived to fetch Emma under the King’s orders. It had been the eve of Emma’s nineteen birthday celebration which ended up becoming a farewell party. At first Emma had no intention of leaving the place she had lived her whole life to go live with a half-brother she had met only once in the worst day of her life, and had declared so to whoever wanted to hear before running to her safe place, the lake close to Lord Jones estate. With the calm being near water always brought her, she came to the conclusion that as unjust as it was, being a princess (and a woman) meant she had no choice but to obey. Emma was old enough now to understand that the freedom her parents had let her enjoy while growing up was unheard of for most women, and now that freedom was over and the goddess only knew what would come of her and those she loved if she tried to disobey. So it was with a heavy heart that Emma tried to console her mother as they said their goodbyes. 

“She can’t do this! She already has a daughter, she can’t take mine away from me! David would never have allowed it if he was still here.” Snow’s agitated voice broke into a sob as it always did when she talked about her deceased husband, the sorrow of his lost as fresh as the day Neal had arrived with the unfortunate news. 

“I’ll be fine, mama. My godfather and Ruby are coming with me and it won’t be for long, soon this war will be over and it will be safe again for me to stay here with you. I’ll be back before you know.”

“You don’t know that, duckling. This is Regina’s doing, I know it. Your brother wouldn’t be so cruel as to take you from me but she… You’re a threat to her and her daughter. Be careful with that woman Emma.” 

“I will mama, I promise.”

“I’ll look after her, Snow.” Emma’s godfather tried to calm Snow. 

“Take care of my girl for me Thomas.” 

“I promise I will. Emma is the daughter we never had, I won’t let anything happen to her under my care.” 

“They have to go now Snow before it gets to late” Ella spoke when it seemed Snow was about to start protesting again. “Come, let’s see them out. The others are already waiting.” 

Emma would be forever grateful for her godparents’ intervention for she knew she wouldn’t have the strength to console her mother without letting go of her resolve to face her destiny with a brave face. 

“Godmother, wait.” Emma asked as they started leaving. She waited until Thomas and Snow were outside to continue. “I wanted to ask you something…” 

“Granny and I will be here to look after her. You don’t have to worry about your mother, duckling.” 

“I know. It wasn’t that I wanted to ask you. It was about last night. Don’t let her know what happened, it would only saddened her and make her worry more.”

“I’ll do everything I can but you have to take care of yourself over there, what happened last night… if people there hear of it, it could ruin you.” 

“Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.” 

“Don’t say that Emma! I know things seem dreadful right now but it won’t be like these forever. The queen is still young, she will have more children, hopefully a boy, and then they’ll let you live your life in peace. You just have to be patient. Show Regina she has nothing to fear from you, that you have no intention of stealing her daughter’s crown but be careful, don’t trust anyone. No one is your friend there do you hear me?” Emma nodded. “So lets go outside so you can say goodbye to the rest of the household.” 

“I wish I could bring you all with me.” 

“We’d all go with you if we could, but unfortunately it can only be Ruby and Thomas… oh and Jefferson, I almost forgot he’s going too.” 

“Jefferson is coming with us? Why?” Of all the servants in Emma’s household, Jefferson was the only one she had no fondness for. She’d always felt a strange uneasiness around him from the moment he first joined their staff. 

“He asked you mother yesterday, said there was a sick brother who lived there and he’d like the opportunity to be closer.” 

“I tought he said he had no family left when he was hired?” 

“Me too.”

 

* * *

 

Far from the cottage, in Avalon (the mystique island most people believed to be nothing more than a legend, but was a very real place) another much less sentimental, farewell was taking place. 

“You’ve been by far my best apprentice Ariel and now time has come to fulfill you mission.” 

“I wont fail you like the others, Nimue.” 

“You _can’t_ fail. Time is against us now and if you don’t succeed none of us will last long enough to see another one, there won’t be another chance. They are the last of their line, our last hope to see the prophecy fulfilled. Everything we worked for, the survival of our ancient faith, all will be lost. People are already afraid to participate on sacred rites or manifest their faith in any way and those who are brave enough are attacked and killed for it. King Neal won’t do nothing to protect us and soon they’ll start to hunt us down. And when that happens? When Avalon falls, there will be nothing more to keep this world to fall on darkness and chaos.” 

“What about the younger brother?” 

“I placed someone at his side, but he’s nothing but a weak, coward, selfish, unfaithful man. He’s not the king that was prophesied.“ 

“It won’t be easy.“ 

“I now, but you must succeed… When you get to the palace, seek out Merlin, he’ll assist you into getting closer to the princess but don’t rely too much on him. He’s lost sight of our true purpose.”

 

* * *

 

“We need more man!” The Duke of Weselton, Admiral of the Royal Navy, insisted. 

“You have more than enough. You’ve been stuck here for months, the King is demanding action Admiral.” Lord Frederick answered disregarding Weselton’s words. 

“They already have three times more men than we do and the advantage of controlling the fort, going up against them right now would be suicide.” 

“It sounds like you’re making up excuses for your inefficiency. If you’re not up to the task you’ve been charged with, the King will be happy to receive your resignation.“ 

“It sounds like the King is more worried with proving the Duke’s inefficiency than recovering our bloody territory.” Killian Jones, who’d been silent until now finaly lost patience and ironized. 

“I’d be careful with my words Captain Jones, one might think you’re suggesting that His Majesty is neglecting his duties.“ Lord Frederik’s words were meant to be a threat, but Killian paid him no attention. 

“And I’d be more concerned with the whole bloody army of Camelot landing in our Kingdom unopposed just because the King doesn’t like who is in charge of his Navy. They already have control of one port, they have almost the double of our ships, we can not approach them without been spotted from miles away. We can’t surprise them, we can’t outnumber them, there is just no way.” 

“You’ll have to find a away. The King’s orders are clear, no more waiting.” Considering that discussion was over, Lord Frederick left the room without giving a chance for the other two to reply. 

“This is bloody absurd! What does he expect us to do? Win this battle out of hopeful thoughts? Because that’s all that we have here.” 

“I don’t think they expect us to win at all, Killian. But that doesn’t matter now, I have my orders… Your brother will be marrying soon, you should go to him.”

 “I do not run from a fight Your Grace, you know me better than that.” 

“I know my boy, I know.” Weselton’s voice was tired when he spoke. “We should prepare to our eminent deaths then.”

 

* * *

 

“What do you think it looks like?” Ruby’s voice startled Emma who’d been about to fall asleep with the gentle pace of their carriage. 

“What?” 

“The Royal Palace. Do you think it is beautiful? It must be, for the King to chose to live there. How many people do you think lives there? I hope there are a lot of handsome, charming, young men there. Not like those rude imbeciles that live in our village.” she kept rambling on without giving Emma a chance to answer. “You might even find a prince to marry.” 

“There are no princes in my brother’s court besides, I have no interesting in marrying. I just want to get this over with and return to my cottage in peace.”

“You say that now, just wait until you find your true love, you’ll want nothing more than to be with him for the rest of your life.” 

“I don’t think that’ll ever happened to me.” 

“That’s nonsense Emma and I’m surprised you’d think such a thing, you know, given your parents story I’d thought you’d be the first to believe in love.” A sudden memory of bright blue eyes crossed Emma’s thoughts.

“I used to, I even believed I had found my true love once, when I was I child, but those were childish beliefs. I’ve grown to understand that there are a lot of other less genuine factors that determinate a marriage, my parent’s case was an anomaly and look how deep of a price my mother had to pay for it.” 

“Emma… Is it because of what happened with Bealfire? Not all men are like that.” 

“It has nothing to do with that.” Emma answered shortly. 

“Are you sure? We should talk about what happened yesterday…” 

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Emma cut her. “He tried to force his way with me, I beated the crap out of him for it, Justine found us fighting, warned half of the household with her screams and he run for his life. End of story. And I don’t want to touch that subject, ever again.” 

“Alright, I won’t speak of it again.” Ruby signed defeated, knowing Emma’s stubbornness there was no use insisting. The silence that followed had Ruby thinking she had upset her friend and Emma considering that her disbelieve in love and marriage had nothing to do with Bealfire, for whom she’d never had any feelings beyond friendship, it had started way before that, when she was first exposed to the real world and all its ugliness and intrigue…

_Little Emma had been beyond excited to be attending her very first ball, even though her parents kept trying to convince her that Lady Jones birthday’s party was not a ball but nothing would ruin her excitement for she was also going to see her prince again, maybe now that he had a week to get used to the idea of their marriage he wouldn’t be so mean and she wouldn’t have to carry out the threats she’d made to him the week before._

_Emma had seen the Jones estate many times, her favorite playing spot, a lake, was nearby but she had never seen the inside of the propriety. She was so fascinated with the beauty of the place that she payed no attention to the adults conversation until she heard Lady Jones call her son._

_“Killian! Why don’t you take you fiancee to play with your friends.” Emma looked just in time to see a grumpy Killian approach while the adults laughed._

_“Hi, Killian.” Emma, said timidly._

_“My lady. Come.” He took her hand and started dragging her trough the crowd, Emma barely managed to keep up with him. He let go of her hand as soon as they reached a group of other children._

_“Who is this Killian?” One of the boys asked as soon as they saw her beside him causing all the other to turn their attention to her._

_“This is princess Emma.” Killian announced mocking her title._

_“If she’s a princess, why is she dressed in that ugly thing?” One of the girls asked point Emma’s new dress that she had liked so much when Granny gave it to her._

_“I’ve seen her before in the village, playing with peasants like she’s one of them. They call her little duckling.” Another spoke. Emma was a usually a strong girl who took no insult home, but in that moment she found herself hiding behind Killian, trying to keep the tears from falling. When he turned to look at her with a mocking smile on his face, she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it in any longer._

_“More like a ugly duckling, but at least she’s clean today.” He said making all the other children laugh. Tears started falling down her face and for a brief minute Emma saw regret in his face, but before he could say anything else, she run. Unlike before when she hadn’t been bothered when the adults were clearly making fun of her now it was unbearable. Not looking where she was going or hearing people’s complain when she bumped into then._ _It wasn’t until she was in a empty corridor upstairs that she stopped. With tears running down her face she decided to hide in the first room with unlocked door she found. She was getting mad at herself for running instead of given those mean children a piece of her mind when she heard movement outside the door._

_Not wanting to be caught crying like a small baby Emma decided to hide inside a closet until whoever was there left. The closet doors had a little crack that allowed Emma to see part of the room without been seen. She looked through it and saw that a woman she didn’t recognize had entered the room and was in the process of unfastening her dress. Emma was deciding to leave her riding spot and looking for an explanation for why she’d been hiding there when the door opened again, this time with someone she recognized immediately._

Before _Emma had time to evaluate how odd it was that Lord Jones would enter a room where a unknown woman was getting undressed, he was kissing her, to Emma’s great astonishment. Growing up with parents who loved each other as much as her parents did, even though they never indulge in such shameless display like the two in front of her right now, Emma had come to believe that kissing was a way of showing affection between spouses. Which made what she was seen now impossible to comprehend._ _She was thankful when they moved out of her sight but she could tell by the strange sounds they were making, that they were still in the room. After_ _a while the room became quiet and Emma thought they had probably left the room through another door she hadn’t seen before when a knock at the door was heard._

_“It must be him.” She heard Lord Jones speak. Soon he appeared at her line of sight again. He went to the door and after opening just enough to see who was behind it he let another man in._

_“You’re late.” Lord Brennan spoke disappearing from Emma’s view only to appear again with what looked like a box in his hands._

_“I’m sorry my lord. I had an unexpected delay.” Emma couldn’t see the new man’s face but by his clothes and way of speaking she guessed he was a servant._

_“Nothing that will disturb our plans I hope?”_

_“No, my lord.”_

_“Good… Here you go, everything as discussed.” Brennan passed the box to the man, who opened and looked at what was inside._

_“Are all the letters here too?”_

_“Almost, Amara?”_

_“I’m not sure about it Brennan.” Emma had been so intrigued with the conversation that she had almost forgot the woman was still there until she spoke again._

_“This is not the time to be hesitant my dear, you have to pick a side now or answer to it later.”_

_“I…”_

_“Came, you can copy it from my letter.” Brennan disappeared again briefly and then him and the woman were in Emma’s line of sight, they walked until the writing table in the room, where the woman sat while Brennan reached in the box the other man was still holding until he found one of the letters and opened it. “There’s paper and ink in that drawer over there… Now start writing: “I, insert your name and titles here, promise my loyalty and obedience to my Lord Edmund, Duke of Weselton, should he ever call upon me, I hereby promise to place my household, fortune and resources at his complete disposition. As proof of my disposition I give this declaration written and signed by myself on my on will.” Now you sign and date it.”_

_When the woman finished Brennan took the two letters, folded and gave it back to the man, who seemed distracted looking at a vial that had been inside the box._

_“Will it really work without leaving any trace?”_

_“The sorcerer who sold me it guaranteed it would. No one will never now what killed King Leopold and Prince Neal. The only question is that if he can deliver it to them.”_

_“He will, I’ll make sure of that.” The man answered._

_“Good, now as you got here later than expected I don’t think it be prudent for you to leave with that box with so many people around. Leave the box here and try to mingle in the party, I’ll lock the door and you can fetch when there’s no risk of others seen.”_

_“I’ll do as you ask, My Lord. My Lady.”_

_“I don’t like this Brennan! Are we just to trust this sorcerer’s word? What if this poison doesn’t work as promised?” the woman spoke as soon as the man left._

_“I thought about that too my dear. Why do you think I invited my dear cousins here today?”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“If things doesn’t work out as it should we can always place the blame on Snow. It wouldn’t be hard to believe she plotted to kill her father and son after being banished from court for so many years. Don’t worry my dear, nothing will go wrong. Now lets join the party before we are missed.”_

_Emma stayed at her hiding spot for many minutes before they left, she was felling an strange mix of horror, shock and astonishment with everything she had heard and seen. She might have been to young to comprehend everything that had happened in that room but she understood enough to now they were planing to kill her grandfather and brother with whatever was inside that box and blame her mother for it._

When _Emma would look back on that day she’d never be able to remember what had induced her to do what she did… Acting on pure instinct Emma went to the writing table where they left the box and grabbed it then she went for the door even though she had heard Lord Jones locking it. When she came to the conclusion that she was really locked, Emma panicked briefly but then she saw the windows and calmed herself. Thankfully there was a tree just outside one of the windows and Emma easily climbed down. Once outside she started to run without a path but somehow ended up at her safe place, her favorite place beside her home, the lake. Being there calmed her enough to think and decide to burry the box at the feet of a tree._

Memories of that day would resurge every once in a while and Emma caught herself wondering once again what would have happened if she hadn’t stolen that box, how different would her life be now? Would her father still be alive? Would her mother had ended up blamed by those deaths? But does were useless thoughts she tried not to delve on too often. 

Their carriage came to an abrupt stop almost throwing Emma out of her seat, when she was about to open the door to ask if they had already arrived she heard shouting outside. She looked to find that they had been surrounded by bandits. As if realizing they where there three of the bandits come to their carriage.

“Look what we have here. Why don’t you two lovely lady come out so we can have some fun or will we have to drag you out?” 

“I’d like to see you try.” Emma challenged already looking for the sword and dagger she had hidden in the seat. She gave the dagger to Ruby.

“We’ve got a bold one, I see. I’ll enjoy teaching you a lesson, darling.” They waited until he reached the door of the carriage for Emma to kick him with everything she got while Ruby jumped on him with the dagger. He apparently had been so sure they were defenseless he had lowered his weapons. Ruby managed to hit him on his neck but as he fell he got hold of her and dragged her out, the other two advanced over her, so Emma jumped out to help her friend.

The first man died quickly but the other two were more difficult. As Emma fought with one of them, she saw that Ruby wasn’t doing any better than herself. Somehow she and her opposer ended up fighting on the dirt but she manage to win just as her soldiers scared the rest of the bandits off.

“Emma! Are you hurt?” Her godfather came running to her side. 

“I’m fine. Who were those?” 

“Some land rat trying to rob us. Archie said it was becoming very common this sort of ambush close to the capital.” 

“Is anyone hurt?”  
“A few soldiers but nothing serious. They weren’t very well armed which is odd.” He noted with a thoughtful expression. 

“What is odd?” 

“That they’d chose to attack us even seen that we’re better armed armed.” 

“You’re right, that’s very odd.”

 

* * *

 

Ariel arrived at court a little before noon, following Nimue’s orders she started to work immediatly but instead of going directly to Merlin she decided to pay a visit to someone she hoped would be much more help in her mission. Seeking her out wasn’t a problem either and soon Ariel was introduced to a room and told to wait. 

“I can’t say I was expecting this visit.” Anita spoke as she entered the room. 

“But you surely must know what brought me here?” 

“I have my suspicious, but I’m surprised. I tought I had fallen from Nimue’s grace for good. What could have brought her favorite apprentice to me?” 

“A chance to redeem yourself? What would you say to that?” 

“I’d say I’m listening.” 

“How close are you to Liam Jones?” 

“Not much, realy. Why?” 

“So you don’t have any influence over him?” Ariel had been counting on these, her mission would be so much harder if she’d have to work to win both their trust. 

“I didn’t say that.” At Ariel questioning expression, Anita continued. “His father always seeks my advise, I’d say I have some influence over him. And Liam, well he’s an very obediente son, so…” 

“In that case, I have a mission for you.”


End file.
